Def Leppard’s Phil Collen: An AC/DC Album with Axl Rose Would be ‘Karaoke’

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen has expressed his opinion on the rumor that Angus Young is planning an AC/DC album with Axl Rose singing. The unverified report came from Rose Tattoo singer Angry Anderson, who said Young had told him: “Mate, I’m writing a new album,” and, when asked who was going to appear, said: “Axl.”

Collen had his say in a recent interview with 96.9 The Eagle (audio below). He commented: “I’m a huge AC/DC fan, and if the whole band’s left or gone… Malcolm [Young] dead, obviously. Brian Johnson got kicked out. Cliff Williams retired and Phil Rudd got arrested. You’ve got one person – so it’s not really AC/DC. Maybe call it ‘A, with Axl Rose.’ It kind of loses its appeal. It becomes karaoke. It becomes something else and it’s lost its integrity, really.”

Collen didn’t attempt to suggest that any such album would be a poor piece of work. “I thought Axl Rose [did] a great job, by the way,” he said. “I thought he [did] amazing when he stood in for Brian Johnson. Full power to him. He’s done really, really good stuff. But I think… if he was going to do an album, it may sound good, but it’s not really the band any more.”

The suggestion of a collaboration between Young and Rose was first suggested a few months after the Guns N’ Roses frontman took over from Johnson. Reporting that he’d “played some stuff” for his own bandmates with a view to writing new GNR material, Rose also said: “Angus and I are talking about working together.”